Urban Poverty Housing And Social Change In China

There is a close association between urban poverty and housing transitional societies. Along with job security, housing was the most important element of the socialist welfare system. Housing privatisation has far reaching economic implications.

Wow! What a tour de force! This timely, masterly work does everything, from broad empirical comparison to theory, quantitative correlation to case studies of neighborhoods and quotations from individual life histories. Its findings from 25 neighborhoods in six cities demonstrate convincingly that urban destitution is not homogeneous, is concentrated in and generated by location, and has patterned institutional roots that produced varying processes of pauperization. This superb book must put to rest once and for all references to Chinese poverty as a matter of just the rural areas and their residents. Dorothy J. Solinger, University of California, Irvine, US Market reform has brought new forms of poverty to urban China, even while the standard of living of most urban residents has greatly improved. This research uses interviews with people in six cities to document their situation and to show how poverty is rooted in the failure of support systems in their neighborhoods and communities. It offers a stark evaluation of a system of inequalities that is only beginning to be addressed by state policy. John R. Logan, Brown University, US Urban poverty is an emerging problem. This book explores the household and neighbourhood factors that lead to both the generation and continuance of urban poverty in China. It is argued that the urban Chinese are not a homogenous social group, but combine laid-off workers and rural migrants, resulting in stark contrasts between migrant and workers neighbourhoods and villages. The expert authors examine the new urban poor in China and the dynamics of their poor neighbourhoods, highlighting both household experience and neighbourhood changes affecting the urban poor. Urban Poverty in China is based upon a comprehensive household survey in six Chinese cities and provides insights into microscopic and neighbourhood-level poverty dynamics. The comprehensive study explores the spatial implications such as concentration of poverty as well as the differentiation within poor neighbourhoods. This informative book tells an insightful story about evolving urban poverty in Chinese cities that will be invaluable to researchers and postgraduate students within urban studies, geography, social policy and development studies as well as Chinese and Asian studies. It will also prove to be an invaluable read for researchers in urban and social development and international development agencies.

This book examines how urban China is experiencing the shift from a planned to a market economy.

China's urban population growth rate has doubled in the past 20 years and the Chinese government has made further urbanization a developmental priority. How Chinese cities cope with such rapid population increases has become a question of critical concern. This book provides an analysis of the welfare implications of China's urbanization, the development of the labour market including migration between rural and urban sectors, and natural and social environmental issues arising from urbanization. The book covers both academic and policy perspectives and, together with its sister volume Urban Transformation in China, brings together a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary overview of China's urbanization.

Presents an up-to-date look at the social processes and consequences of China's rapid economic growth.

Introduction : the quest for a balanced economic growth and social development - ideas and practices promoting social cohesion in greater China / Ka Ho Mok, Ka Kuen Leung and Yeun Wen Ku -- pt. I. Concepts of social cohesion and policy response. ch. 1. Social cohesive efforts to meet youth development needs in Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong / Sandra K. M. Tsang and Yiu Kong Chu. ch. 2. In search of harmonious society in China : a social policy response / Kinglun Ngok and Yapeng Zhu. ch. 3. Social cohesion in a divided society : lessons from Taiwan's welfare politics / Yeun Wen Ku. ch. 4. One country, two cities : a comparison of perceived cohesion in Guangzhou and Hong Kong / Simon T. M. Chan, Sammy W. S. Chiu and Marcus Y. L. Chiu -- pt. II. Social change and urban governance. ch. 5. Governing a global city in the context of political transition / Tai Lok Lui. ch. 6. Embracing the market : examining the consequences for education, housing, and health in Chinese cities / Ka Ho Mok ... [et al.]. ch. 7. Urban governance from below : a case study of Kaohsiung, Taiwan / Shiuh Shen Chien and Yeilong Wu -- pt. III. Economic well-being, urban poverty and pension reforms. ch. 8. Elderly poverty and old-age pension reform in Hong Kong : issues and prospects / Ernest Chiu and Lisanne Ko. ch. 9. Is welfare restructuring and economic development in post-1997 Hong Kong in search of a cohesive society? / Maggie Lau and Ka Ho Mok. ch. 10. Economic development and household economic well-being in urban China / Xiulan Zhang, Terry Lum and Yuebin Xu. ch. 11. The fragmentation of the old-age security system : the politics of pension reform in Taiwan / Shih Jiunn Shi.

Using an innovative approach, this book interprets the unprecedented transformation of contemporary China’s major cities. It deals with a diversity of trends and analyzes their sources. Offers a multi-dimensional analysis of urban life in China Highlights a diversity of trends in the areas of migration, criminal victimization, gated communities, and the status of women, suburbanization, and neighbourhood associations Each chapter includes input from both an expert on urban life in China and an 'outside' expert from the fields of sociology, geography, economics, planning, political science, history, demography, architecture, or anthropology An alternative theoretical perspective comparing the Chinese experience with other urban settings in the United States, Poland, Russia, Vietnam, East and South East Asia, and South America

This wide-ranging exploration of the key contemporary relationships between social change and housing is both policy-oriented and theoretical, drawing on a group of internationally-respected academics. It is also multidisciplinary, incorporating sociology, economics, social policy and human geography perspective. Its international perspective is rooted in its examination of issues such as economic insecurity and instability, social diversity, financial and social exclusion, sustainability, privatisation and state legitimacy, the interaction of the global and the local across three continents.